Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed (pictured above with his wife Sara-Elizabeth) played host to his 5th masked ball at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta last Saturday (December 20, 2014).

Atlanta is a thriving mecca for hip-hop culture and it’s not unusual for influential artists to join forces with the City’s vast political culture. This year marked the 31st anniversary of the United Negro College Fund’s Mayor’s Masked Ball, a black Tie and gown affair, hosted by the Mayor of The City of Atlanta.

The evening’s honorees were Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian and Dr. Joseph Lowery and the event was sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines and UPS.

Comedian Chris Tucker, Ludacris, Big Boi, Producer Will Packer, Young Jeezy, Ambassador Andrew Young, and Phaedra Parks are just a few of the many Atlanta celebrities & dignitaries who contributed to the $500 a plate fundraising event. I even grabbed my masked and headed to the swanky event!

There were over 1,300 guests in attendance, who were treated to a performance by Chaka Khan. All played a part in donations during the 31st Annual UNCF Masked Ball surpassing over a million dollars for the organization this year!

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and the city of Atlanta recently launched a campaign aimed at increasing awareness and prevention of sexual assault.

The campaign, titled “Take a Stand,” offers resources to both women and men on how to guard their personal safety or get help quickly in the event of an emergency and features a short film about sexual assault and prevention as well as several public service announcements (PSAs).

The PSAs will feature celebrity advocates for rape prevention and so far, Tika Sumpter and Gabrielle Union have filmed clips.

Mayor Reed and the City of Atlanta hope that college campuses, church and community organizations across the country use the video and PSAs to educate students and members in order to have a real impact in reducing sexual assault.

More details about Mayor Reed’s ‘Take a Stand’ campaign + Watch the short film + PSAs below… Continue Reading…

The VH1 documentary ‘ATL: The Untold Story of Atlanta’s Rise in the Rap Game’ aired last night (September 2, 2014) and it was embraced with open arms.

The show not only went through the musical history of Atlanta, it was also a Black History lesson in that the hip-hop explosion that occurred in our city also coincided with Atlanta’s civil rights legacy.

The documentary is different in that it touches on the city’s meager, mostly overlooked hip-hop beginnings and pays well-deserved homage to frequently overlooked early musical contributors like MC Shy D, Kilo Ali, Raheem the Dream, King Edward J., Arnell Star and more.

The documentary also focuses on the musical groundwork laid by producers Organized Noize, Dallas Austin and Jermaine Dupri.

By linking the city’s rap scene with its historic civil rights roots, the film sets Atlanta’s southern breed of hip-hop apart from the coasts that alternately dominated the genre before the South’s rise.

The documentar also ties the local scene’s launch in 1982 — when Mo-Jo became the first local rapper to release a record with “Battmann: Let Mo-Jo Handle It” — to the end of Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered Children case that plagued the city’s African-American community for four years before reportedly ending that same year.

In case you missed it, catch your ATL history lesson and watch the full episode of ‘ATL: The Untold Story of Atlanta’s Rise in the Rap Game’ below… Continue Reading…

Ne-Yo (aka Schaffer Smith) and his Compound Foundation partnered with the Atlanta area Boys and Girls club to give back to the community.

The Grammy award winning singer/songwriter enlisted a few of his celebrity friends who all showed support for the worthy cause. Ne-Yo shared his good fortune with about 500 underprivileged children, who were treated to an early Christmas yesterday evening (December 5, 2013).